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This Brief highlights how a genuine and credible European Defence Union, in strong partnership with NATO, can effectively contribute to global stability, and deliver on the promise of lasting peace, security and prosperity.

The unprecedented speed of societal, technological and geopolitical change today means EU policymaking needs to become more responsive and agile. With its ‘passerelle’ clauses, the Lisbon Treaty allows for a transition to more effective modes of decision-making in areas such as Common Foreign and Security Policy, taxation and social policy, which are central to addressing some of the world’s biggest societal challenges. Shifting to qualified majority voting in selected areas would not only result in more effective decisions but also strengthen the EU as a global actor.

Defending Global Cooperation, Multilateralism and Democracy in Turbulent Times

The world is facing unprecedented challenges while fundamental values that we thought we could take for granted – respect for human rights, individual liberty, equality, the rule of law – are now being questioned, sometimes deliberately trampled.Against this backdrop, the EU is committed to standing up for multilateralism and democracy. With over six decades of experience in pursuing cooperation, the EU has a unique vantage point on the need to work together and to respect each other’s views.

The once remote-seeming dangers of climate change are today a reality – also in Europe. As the world struggles to limit global warming, what are the major trends reshaping global and European energy markets, regulatory and policy frameworks, and technological progress that will determine whether we will, one day, be able to achieve a climate-neutral economy?

Global Trends to 2030:Shaping the Futurein a Fast-Changing World

28-29 November 2018 | ESPAS Annual Conference 2018

This landmark conference brought together a select community of global foresight practitioners and strategists to explore the latest and most pressing social, economic, technological and geopolitical trends shaping the future of Europe and the world.

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This Brief highlights how a genuine and credible European Defence Union, in strong partnership with NATO, can effectively contribute to global stability, and deliver on the promise of lasting peace, security and prosperity.

As this new publication highlights, the EU is committed to standing up for multilateralism and democracy. With over six decades of experience in pursuing cooperation, the EU has a unique vantage point on the need to work together and to respect each other’s views.

The unprecedented speed of societal, technological and geopolitical change today means EU policymaking needs to become more responsive and agile. With its ‘passerelle’ clauses, the Lisbon Treaty allows for a transition to more effective modes of decision-making in areas such as Common Foreign and Security Policy, taxation and social policy, which are central to addressing some of the world’s biggest societal challenges. The EU should not waste the opportunity to better equip itself for demanding times ahead. Shifting to qualified majority voting in selected areas would not only result in more effective decisions but also strengthen the EU as a global actor.

On 17 December 2018, the European Political Strategy Centre hosted five leading international experts for a High-Level Hearing on ‘Strategic Autonomy in the Digital Age.’ During the Hearing, the experts were asked to address a set of predetermined questions pertaining to the intersection of digital technologies and strategic autonomy.

Global power shifts, pressure on liberal democracies, challenges to global governance, the transformation of economic models and of the very fabric of societies, new uses and misuses of technology, humanity’s growing ecological footprint: the world may be on the cusp of a new geopolitical, geo-economic and geo-technological order.

To stimulate thinking about the key trends that will shape the world to 2030 – and their possible implications for the EU – we have put together a collection of over 35 original, insightful and forward-looking essays authored by global thought leaders, foresight practitioners and strategists who spoke at the 2018 ESPAS Annual Conference ‘Global Trends to 2030: Shaping the Future in a Fast-Changing World.’

EPSC in Brief

The European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) is the European Commission’s in-house think tank, established in November 2014 by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Tasked with a mission to innovate and disrupt, the EPSC provides the President and the College of Commissioners with strategic, evidence-based analysis and forward-looking policy advice.